


A New Road to Happiness

by SolariaLunar21



Category: Call Me By Your Name - All Media Types
Genre: Divorce, F/M, Fusion book and movie verse, M/M, Moving On, mentions of cheating, outside pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-29 20:00:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18300974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolariaLunar21/pseuds/SolariaLunar21
Summary: Sarah finds out by accident in their fourth year of marriage that Oliver has been unfaithful.





	A New Road to Happiness

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently the first time I write for a ship I like to do so from someone else's POV. This is written from the perspective of Oliver's wife on the night that they decide to get divorced and scenes from the year afterwards and takes elements from both the book and movie verse. Timeframe is more towards movie verse, I'd place the events of this story happening between the years of 1988-1989. I hope you enjoy :)

Sarah finds out by accident, in their fourth year of marriage that Oliver has been unfaithful. It happens when a letter flutters out of an old copy of his first book that she grabs to bring to work for a colleague’s son. At first, she thinks nothing of the paper that’s fallen out of the book until she goes to pick it up and the phrase _if I think hard enough, I can still taste you_ jumps off the page. Heart in her throat she reads the letter as a pit grows in her stomach with each passing word.

_Oliver,_

_I was surprised to receive your letter this morning after how we left things last month, not bad surprised though just surprised. To answer your first question, yes, your heaven is still here just as beautiful as you left it, maybe more so. I wish you could visit, I know you cannot, but I wish you could. You asked before I left if I go to the berm still to read and I find that it is impossible for me to go there now because it is no longer just mine but ours. I don’t say this to make you melancholy or think you took something away from me. You never have. It’s just a statement of fact that since it is our place I don’t want to be there when it is just I and not we._

_To answer your second question, what a foolish thing to ask if I meant it. How can you not know I meant it? I will mean it until my dying breath for you are me and I am you. Remember Elio?_

_Is it out of turn if I also admit that the yellow sheets are on my bed? The same ones we would make love on for so many hours. I wear Billowy and press my face to the pillow while I pleasure myself and if I think hard enough, I can still taste you in my mouth as I soil the sheets like we did those long summer nights._

_I do not know where to go from here Oliver, when I get back to New York I don’t know if I can be stuck in the in-between like we were for so long. My heart beats in time with my name and yours forever intertwined but it is not fair to either of us if we continue as we were. When you know what you want let me know and maybe what we want will be the same. If it is not then that’s okay, all I’ve ever wanted was for your continued happiness in life._

_Yours,_

_Elio_

Sarah is unsure of when Oliver’s infidelity took place, or if it was still going on but the letter was creased and well read, and she had a strong feeling that whatever had happened had occurred recently. Oliver had been pulling away slowly but surely over the past year, but Sarah had blamed it on the fact that Oliver had taken over a few of the higher-level courses from a fellow professor who was undergoing cancer treatments. Now she knew for sure that her husband’s distance had somewhat to do with whoever he was soiling yellow sheets with for many hours during the summer. Plus, the name _Elio_ did not sound like a woman’s name and that thought left her breathless.

There had been rumors in college that Oliver had had affairs with men, she had asked a year into their relationship if they were true and he asked what she thought. Her answer was that she didn’t believe them, she remembers now that he never agreed or disagreed just kissed her until she forgot.

She stands now with a copy of her husband’s first book in one hand and the letter of a former, or present day, male lover in the other and has no clue how to feel. Betrayed of course is the first emotion to come across because they took vows, they said till death do them part and Oliver was just throwing that away? She feels anger and sadness for she never thought that Oliver would be unfaithful even though she was sure that he’d fallen out of love with her a long time ago. He was too good of a person, yet this letter proved that he had strayed from their bed into another’s at some point during their marriage.

Instead of putting the letter back into the book she takes both out into the living room pours herself a glass of wine and waits for Oliver to get home. She knew that tonight could very well be the last night of her marriage as she knows it, where they go from here, she doesn’t know. Sarah’s not sure how long she’s been sitting in the living room nursing her glass of wine the book and letter left out on the coffee table when the door to their apartment opens and Oliver steps in.

“Hey how was your day at work?” he asks just like he always does as be places his briefcase by the door and comes into the living room. She notices that he stops short when he sees the letter on the table, “where did you get that?”

“Fell out of your book, Janine at work and I were talking about it because her son is interested in the Classics. Told her I’d bring in a copy for him to borrow to see if he enjoyed it.”

“Did you read it?” he asked.

“I wasn’t going to until I saw that whoever wrote this was writing to say they could still taste your cum in their mouth,” she bites out rather harshly and bluntly. She watches as Oliver winces and wonders what’s going to happen next. When he’s silent she speaks again, “How long have you and this Elio been fucking behind my back?” she asks.

“We haven’t slept together in years Sarah, we kissed once over a year ago but that’s it.”

“Who is he to you then? Some fling you had years ago that you bumped into on the street and now can’t forget? I don’t care that he’s a man Oliver, I’ve long suspected that you were also attracted to men, I just want to know when he stole your heart from me.”

“Does it matter when?”

“You aren’t denying it then? You’re in love with this man?” she asks voice quivering because a small piece of her still thought maybe Oliver was just looking for sexual pleasure from this man that he couldn’t get from her.

“I didn’t want you to find out this way Sarah, I was going to tell you.”

“What do you mean you were going to tell me?”

  
“Sarah, I want a divorce,” Oliver says into the quiet of their apartment as the streets of New York City buzz with activity from below.

“A divorce…so what you can go off and play happy home with whoever wrote this fucking letter? We took vows Oliver…do those mean nothing to you anymore?” She asks slightly hysterical because she doesn’t want to be a divorcee before she’s thirty years old. Sarah feels blindsided because never once did she think Oliver would bring up divorce. He was too scared of his family and what society thought of him to do that.

“This has nothing to do with Elio, fuck Sarah that letter’s over a year old. I haven’t spoken to or seen him in almost a year. I’m so tired of living a lie,” Oliver says to her and she wonders if he’s speaking the truth about this Elio.

“What lie is that Oliver? That you aren’t gay?”

“That I don’t love you anymore,” he states plainly, and it feels like a slap in the face.

Sarah honestly feels like Oliver has been replaced by a pod person. Every single little thing that she thought about Oliver has seemed to come unraveling in the past hour. She’s known for so long that his feelings for her changed but the fact that he’s admitting it cuts her to the core. It’s one thing to know but another to hear the words spoken out loud. It’s not until she sees the concern written on his face that she registers the tears falling from her eyes.

“Is that how you really feel?” She asks voice quivering as her heart breaks.

“I’m so sorry Sarah, you deserve someone who loves you and that’s not me anymore. There’s some guy out there that will love you the way that you should be loved, and I can’t keep you from that.”

“I still love you though, shouldn’t that count for something?”

“Is that enough for you?” Oliver asks her and she must shake her head no because as much as she truly does love Oliver, she loves him enough to let him go.

They don’t talk anymore that night, Sarah sleeps in their bed alone while Oliver takes the guest room.

A week after that night Oliver starts moving out and Sarah helps him pack with a heavy heart the card for a good divorce lawyer in her purse from Janine.

Two months after that night Sarah moves out of the apartment she shared with Oliver, breaking the lease and moving in with her friends Stacy and Megan who with Janine have become her rocks as the divorce proceedings start.

Six months after that night Sarah signs her divorce papers sitting across from Oliver in the office of her lawyer. It’s the first time she’s seen him in four months since they signed the paperwork together breaking the lease on their old apartment. She doesn’t know what he’s been up to but there’s something about him that just screams contentment and it makes her bitter down in her soul. Sarah wonders if it has to do with the mysterious Elio but doesn’t dare to ask for fear that Oliver did lie to her and he did leave her for his male lover.

Six months after her divorce and four days before the anniversary of the day her world turned upside down Sarah meets the mysterious Elio completely on accident. It happens when she gets stood up, she’s waiting at the bar of the restaurant that her and her date Christopher had agreed on two days before and she gets talking to the bartender. He’s younger than her, most definitely in his early twenties but he seems wise for his age, sparkling eyes peek out from long eyelashes, and dark brown curls tumble around his face. The man’s features are slightly delicate but strong, she’s reminded of Roman or Greek statues that Oliver would admire slides of for hours analyzing their beauty.

“Here,” the bartender says sliding another glass of wine across the bar top towards her and she startles slightly because she didn’t order another drink.

“I didn’t order this.”

  
“I know but well, you’ve been here for thirty minutes and from the way you keep glancing at the door I can only assume that you’ve just been stood up, so it’s on me,” he replies, and she smiles at his voice that has a slight lilt to it that she can’t quite place.

“Well then thank you, although that’s quite presumptuous of you to assume that I’ve been stood up. How do you know I didn’t arrive extremely early?”

“I’ve been working here almost a year, after awhile it’s pretty easy to tell what someone that’s been stood up on a date looks like,” the bartender shrugs his shoulders and she doesn’t know why she doesn’t storm out of there at his flippant tone, but she’s intrigued.

“Alright then wow me what are the signs?” she asks.

“First there’s the fact that when you got here you looked around nervously for someone, when you realized that your date wasn’t here your face grew worried, then you approached the bar and ordered a glass of wine while looking at your watch to make sure you had the right time. Every five minutes or so you glance over at the door and each time your date isn’t there you look a little bit more upset. I’m also going to guess that this is your first date in a while, probably got out of a long-term relationship at some point in the past six months or so.”

“What are you a psychology student?” Sarah asks and the bartender laughs.

“Nope just started my Masters at Julliard, my boyfriend tells me I spent too much of my life just sitting and observing the world around me growing up and that I can’t help but psychoanalyze everything,” Sarah’s heart sinks a little at the word boyfriend because even though this bartender is much to young for her she wouldn’t have said no to a one night stand or some light flirting while she finished her wine.

“Well thank you again for the wine…” she trails off wanting a name.

“Elio,” the bartender responds causing Sarah to freeze for the smallest moment before plastering her best WASP smile on and not letting this man know that his name has affected her at all.

  
“Elio, that’s interesting I don’t think I’ve heard that before.”

  
“It’s Italian, I grew up in Italy, American father, Italian mother, so I have dual citizenship. But duty calls, enjoy your wine and I’ll grab the check for you in a few minutes,” Elio responds after a waiter has approached the bar to put in an order for a table. She can’t help but overhear though as the waiter lingers and starts chatting with Elio as the man mixes and pours the order.

“Tell that boyfriend of yours that he still owes me twenty bucks after last weeks card game,” the guy says.

  
“I’ll be sure to let him know, but I’m pretty sure you still owe him forty for last week.”

“Hey, I never said I didn’t, he just owes me twenty.”

“Well Oliver’s picking me up tonight so you can let him know then.” At the sound of her ex-husbands name Sarah almost chokes on her drink. There’s no way that Elio isn’t talking about her Oliver. How many Elio’s and Oliver’s could there be in New York City that are dating? The probability has to be close to 1% and she knows she needs to get out of there before Oliver does indeed show up.

“Going clubbing?”

“No, you know he’s still a little freaked about letting me walk home alone if I have a closing shift after what happened a few months ago.”

“Whatever the reason let me know when he’s here so I can collect my money,” the waiter says with a laugh as Elio puts the last of his drinks on the tray and shakes his head at his friend. A minute later Elio drops Sarah’s check off and she finishes her wine leaving a twenty, more than enough to cover the two glasses of wine and tip even if he only charged her the one.      

Her curiosity has been tipped so when she exits the bar, she hurries across the street to the 24-hour café and gets herself a coffee. Sarah never thought she would resort to spying, but she needs to know if her assumptions are correct. It’s another twenty minutes before she spots the familiar stride and body of her ex-husband across the street as he ducks into the restaurant. Fifteen minutes later she watches as Oliver and Elio exit onto the street talking to one another but not touching.

Elio is facing away from her, but she can see the smile on Oliver’s face as they stop briefly to allow Oliver to help his boyfriend with the scarf that he’s winding around his neck. The younger man must say something that makes Oliver laugh because she watches as it pours out of him in a way that’s painfully familiar. Her heart hurts to see Oliver so happy in a way that she can’t remember him being since they first started dating. Even when they were newlyweds, she can’t remember him being so blissfully happy as he looks just standing on a street corner with Elio.

All too soon the two men continue walking and she sees them disappearing into the night and decides that she should leave as well. Finishing her coffee, she hails a cab home and gets in only to find out from her answering machine that Christopher had left her a message saying he was sorry for the short notice but that he wasn’t going to be able to make it since he’d had to pick up an extra shift at work. She’s not too upset, he is a second-year surgical resident after all, it had taken them two weeks to find a day that would work for them both anyways. Sighing she makes a note to call him back the next day to try and figure out another day that will work.

The date with Christopher happens four days later, the irony of the fact that her first date with another man happens on the anniversary of the night her husband announced he was leaving her is not lost on her, this time he picks her up from her apartment and takes her to a different restaurant than before. He’s charming and funny, they first met in a coffee shop a month ago and she feels butterflies whenever she’s in his presence. The one thing Sarah does not expect, but should considering the date and her life right now, is to bump into Oliver and Elio as they are leaving but that’s exactly what happens. Christopher’s helping her put her coat on when Oliver and Elio enter, Oliver stares at her for a moment as she notices Elio glance between them a knowing look in his eyes that surprises her.

“Hello Oliver,” she finally says as Christopher looks between the three of them in confusion. Sarah has yet to tell him that she was divorced let alone that her ex-husband also enjoyed the company of other men.

“Sarah, it’s nice to see you.”

  
“Likewise, you look well.”

  
“So do you, um this is Elio,” Oliver says gesturing to his partner and Elio smiles holding out a hand like they’ve never met.

“It’s nice to meet you Sarah, I’ve heard so much about you from Oliver,” Sarah’s eyes must widen because she notices a twinkle in Elio’s eye that lets her know that he knew exactly who she was the moment she walked in four days ago.

“Yes well can’t say Oliver told me all that much about you, anyways Christopher and I were just leaving so enjoy your dinner. I’ll see you around Oliver.”

She exits then with Christopher on her tail and as they do, she feels a weight lift from her shoulders and a hand slip into hers. Sarah’s sure that Christopher has plenty of questions, which she has plenty of answers too but for now she’s happy to know that she can finally put the past behind her and move on.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I'm toying with writing a companion or two from both Oliver and Elio's perspectives, when that will happen I'm not sure since I started this in January and just finished it on the last day of March. If you enjoyed this keep your eyes peeled for possibly more someday down the line!


End file.
